Unit stats, ups/techs & balancing in Starcraft

In UMS maps, the unit stats can be modified for different roles and balancing. Weak units like marines or zerglings can be made stronger as hero units with very fast movements.

In order to edit the unit stats, scroll down the Scenario menu at the top menu bar and click on Unit Settings. Toggle the check box that says "Enabled by Default" depending on whether you want the players with default settings to be able to create the unit. You can create exceptions to the default settings by choosing Yes, No, or Default at the Unit Availability box. Toggle the check box that says "Use Unit Defaults," and if you also want to edit the unit name, "Use Default" in the "Unit Name" box. Look up the String Editor to find the appropriate codes for colors and see how the name appears.

You can edit how long it takes and how much it costs to build the unit, and how strong the unit will be in terms of default attack, default armor, attack upgrade bonus, and hit points. Note that Build Time measures in seconds, and Shield points are defaulted to 100 if the unit is a non-Protoss unit without a shield. When the hit points is set to 0, the unit has permanent invincibility against conventional damage in the game, although it is still targetable and is affected by spells. You may not set the Build Time to 0, or it will crash Starcraft!

Relevant to Unit Settings are Upgrade Settings and Tech Settings. Toggle the "Use Default Costs" check box and punch in the numbers you want, if you want the upgrades to cost different amount and time; for example, if you want attack and armor upgrades to be instantaneous, cost only mineral, starting from 50, and become more expensive by +5 ore, then set Base Costs for Mineral to 50, Upgrade Factor to 5, Gas Costs to 0, and Time Costs to 0. You can determine whether certain upgrades and tech abilities are researched by default or available to select players.

Hero units by default are enabled with all possible upgrades and tech abilities, except for attack (including scarab damage), armor, and shield. Beyond upgrades, certain hero units differ from their normal unit counterparts in terms of AI, attack range, attack rate, etc. When attacking units choose their targets, they generally prefer hero units over normal units because of their higher kill score, HP, or attack. Some units may become confused and forget to fire back if the attacking enemy unit has extremely high attack and HP. Unit response time and effects of trigger are different between multi player and single player modes, so make sure to test UMS maps in multiplayer settings!

Here is a list of the differences between hero and basic units with max upgrades:

Battlecruiser - Norad II and Terran Battlecruiser have the same attack rate and response time. Hyperion has quicker response time and 35% faster attack rate.

Ghost - Ghosts all have the same attack rate, but Terran Ghost has the longest range of all 5 ghosts (including Samir Duran, Infested Samir Duran, Sarah Kerrigan, Alexi Stukov). Infested Duran has zerg carapace, and his health regenerates like other Zerg units. Terran Ghost is the only ghost in the game that has the ability to deploy nukes.

Goliath - Terran Goliath has a longer attack range than Alan Schezar, but both have the same rate of attack. This translates into worse AI and micro capabilities for Alan Schezar.

Dragoon - Protoss Dragoon attacks slower by 35% and has a dumber AI; it is less ideal for microing or use in a spell attack by trigger.

Reaver - Warbringer immediately releases its scarabs in presence of enemy units, whereas Protoss Reaver takes 2~3 seconds to attack; Warbringer is more convenient for use as part of a spell attack by trigger or reaver-drop strategy with Shuttle.

Templar - Protoss Templar has no attack, but it can merge with another to create Protoss Archon. Tassadar is able to attack with normal damage at close range.

A good deal of balancing is affected by the damage type of the unit's attack and the unit's size.

There are 3 different types of attack in Starcraft: normal, concussive & explosive, and there are 3 different unit sizes in Starcraft: small, medium, and large. Normal attack deals 100% to units of all sizes; concussive deals 100% to small units, 50% to medium units, and 25% to large units; explosive deals 100% to large units, 75% to medium units, and 50% to small units. You also can't forget splash, which deals damage to multiple units within an area, such as Archon and Siege Tank.

Here is a list of units and their damage types and sizes:

PROTOSS:

Arbiter - Large/Explosive

Archon - Large/Normal+Splash

Carrier- Large/Normal

Corsair- Medium/Normal+Splash

Dark Archon- Large

Dark Templar- Small

Dragoon- Large/Explosive

Templar- Small/Normal

Observer- Small

Photon Cannon- Large/Normal

Probe- Small/Normal

Reaver - Large/Normal+Splash

Scout- Large/Normal to ground, Explosive to air

Shuttle- Large

Zealot- Small/Normal

TERRAN:

Battlecruiser- Large/Normal

Dropship- Large

Firebat- Small/Concussive

Ghost- Small/Concussive

Goliath- Large/Normal

Marine- Small/Normal

Medic- Small

Missile Turret- Large/Explosive

Science Vessel- Large

SCV- Small/Normal

Siege Tank- Large/Explosive + splash when in siege mode

Valkyrie- Large/Explosive + splash

Vulture- Medium/Concussive

Wraith- Large/Normal to ground, Explosive to Air

ZERG:

Broodling- Small/Normal

Defiler- Medium

Devourer- Large/Explosive

Drone- Small/Normal

Guardian- Large/Normal

Hydralisk- Medium/Explosive

Infested Terran- Small/Explosive + splash

Lurker- Large/Normal + splash

Mutalisk- Small/Normal + scattershots

Overlord- Large

Queen- Medium

Scourge- Small/Normal

Spore colony- Large/Normal

Sunken colony- Large/Explosive

Ultralisk- Large/Normal

Zergling- Small/Normal

It should be noted that all buildings are Large-sized, and Protoss shield takes 100% damage from all attack types. Also, probes, scvs, and drones do not receive any attack upgrades.

It is possible to take advantage of the damage type and unit size to balance units units with military warfare type roles, such as artillery, cavalry, infantry, anti-tank, etc. Naturally, infantry is effective against cavalry, cavalry is effective against artillery, and artillery is effective against infantry, as in rock paper scissor. Cavalry also specializes in flanking action, which can be arranged by setting its attack very high and hp lower. For example, infantry would consist of Sarah Kerrigan ghost with short range, concussive attack, and small size; cavalry would consist of marine with stim pack, zergling with speed and attack rate upgrade, or zealot with leg upgrade, all of which have normal attack and small size; and artillery would consist of Siege tanks with explosive damage + splash and large size. A different arrangement would have vultures with very high attack as cavalry, siege tanks with very high attack and very low hp as artillery, and hydralisks with medium size and explosive damage or marines with small size and normal attack as infantry.

There are two ways of balancing military units as those in Diplo or War 1939. In the case that there are very limited number of upgrades (i.e. 2~3), all attack can be set to +1, since they will be canceled by +1 armor. In the case that upgrading is extensive (i.e. 5), it is better to use the balancing methods for hero units described below to account for different rates of attack.

In balancing units acting as heroes in games like Hero Wars, DoTa, Temple Siege, and Footmen Frenzy, there are several important things to consider. Will the heroes be getting armor, health (possible with triggers), and attack upgrades throughout the game? Will Protoss units have just shield, hit points, or both? Will there be a max limit to armor, shield, and attack upgrades? Will heroes have similar HP?

Simple way of balancing heroes is to set its basic stats, test it against another hero, then test again with max upgrades. First, set the basic attack very low based on the units' rates of attack and make health upgradable (aka start with 20% health, rises by 10% every upgrade). This allows you to achieve very accurate balancing by streamlining the attack and upgrade numbers strictly to multiples of a number that corresponds to the ratios of the attack rates of different units. For example, zergling would have 10 attack, and +1 attack upgrade, and ultralisk would have 30 attack, and +3 attack upgrade, since zergling attacks 3 times faster than Ultralisk. If there are armor upgrades, and armor upgrade is required for every few attack upgrades or encouraged because of lower rate of rising cost, the stats can be adjusted accordingly to 6 attack (3 x 3 attack - 3 x 1 armor = 6) and +3 attack upgrade (3 - 1 = 2), and 18 attack (6 x 3 = 18) and +7 attack upgrade (7 - 1 = 6). From here on, you can toggle with the unit's basic attack, health, and armor to take into account other factors of unit balancing, including movement speed, AI, range, and protoss shield and zerg health regeneration.

If there are many heroes to balance, try to branch out from unit match-ups that leave less grey area and uncertainty in terms of different attack type, unit size, speed, and range/melee type. For example, start off by balancing ranged units with normal attack like Goliath and Marine. Then go on balancing a range unit that can't hit-and-run and a melee unit of normal attack (i.e. Marine vs. Zergling). Then balance all melee units with normal attack (i.e. Zergling, Zealot, Ultralisk, Broodling, Infested Kerrigan, Dark Templar, etc.). Continue balancing units through match-ups that have the least number of different attributes, expecting wins by appropriate margins. For example, Vulture should beat Ghost by ~40% because Ghost's concussive attack deals only half the damage to medium-sized units like Vulture, while Vulture's concussive attack deals full 100% to Ghost.

Generally, it is better to give melee hero units about 25~30% more health than ranged units, set similar health and overall attack, and make slower units stronger than faster units (i.e. dark templar > zergling). Having a very wide range of health and attack may contribute to less balanced gameplay in team match settings (i.e. 3v3), unless units with specialized stats are individually weaker than units with normal stats.

dokebi@ wormer. so how would an article about unit stats & balancing be any more "helpful" than this? u don't have any say until i see u write a more helpful article.

No offense but my opinion is one shouldn't write the article if it can't be helpful.

I have some math to say about balancing, but I'm concerned about it's helpfulness and don't have enough time and motivation to write it down. Please continue hooking me up and I will finally write it :P

deokebiHero units by default are enabled with all possible upgrades and tech abilities, except for attack (including scarab damage), armor, and shield.

There is an exception. Jim Raynor (Vulture) doesn't start with speed upgrade. I recall something like there was one more unit with an exception like this (Warbringer?), but don't remember in particular.

Queen-GambitAfter downloading datedit and discussing unit stats concerning heroes, I believe that the Sarah Kerrigan Ghost has the same attack range as all the other hero ghosts. Can anyone else verify this?

Yes it has the same range. Don't you believe your own eyes? :P

Queen-GambitHoly crap, this guide was EXTREMELY helpful! I didnt know till recently that hero units Versus normal units had different range and attack cooldown. (I thought their unit health/atk/armor was only different).